Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128069 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128069 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
“But you wouldn’t have been able to use that you can pick show tunes line,” she teases. “You didn’t know that then.”
Scoffing, I eye her up and down. “I’d have guessed. You give off that vibe.”
She stares me down, but she’s smiling. “Why’s that?”
Is it weird if I say because she likes makeup? Because she’s got a girlie side to her? Because she wears fake lashes? At least I think they’re fake. Never seen anyone with lashes that long for real. But I like Josie with makeup and without makeup.
I find a different path to an answer. “Probably because of the way you were with your friend that night. You seemed close. Made me think you were a girl’s girl.”
“I am,” she says, her shoulders straightening. “Good guess.”
I tip my chin toward her. “So tell me more about you. What do you do for a living?”
“Are you recreating the second date we never had?” Her smile touches down straight in my chest, stirring my heart.
“Yes.”
“I’m in town working at a library. And it’s turned out to be an incredible job.”
“Yeah?” Even though we talk about her job often, I’m still dying to know all the details about it.
“My boss is smart, and sarcastic, and my colleagues are fun. We played trivia the other night and I destroyed them. It was very satisfying.”
“Winning can be like that,” I say. “Have you always wanted to be a librarian?”
She nods enthusiastically. “Pretty much. But especially once I learned what it entailed. Maintaining records, finding information, and helping people connect with books of all kinds. It’s been a dream job my whole life.”
I get that completely. “Same thing for me—with hockey.” But I don’t want to focus on me. “So this job you have now—is it a dream job?”
Her smile is somehow both excited and wistful. “Yes, except it’s temporary, but it’s amazing. My boss has given me a lot of autonomy. I started this new thing called Your Next Five Reads, and it’s going really well,” she says, then tells me more about an online recommendation service she’s started.
“That does sound pretty cool,” I say, but something doesn’t add up. “You’re doing all these great things. Why does it end? Why is it a temp gig?”
Is it too obvious I don’t want it to reach the finish line of us?
Sadness flashes briefly in her eyes, but then she seems to blink it off. “It’s fine,” she says, her tone cheery and bright. “It was never supposed to be more than temporary. The library landed a special grant for its digitization center from a non-profit that was founded a couple years ago. It’s pretty unusual, but the library was able to use that funding to hire a digital specialist for a few months. It’s just a contract post.”
What happens in January? Where do you go? Will you miss me?
Those questions form on my tongue, but I swallow them down. Now’s not the time to talk about the new year. There might never be a good time to talk about it. Her situation is different from mine. Hell, she lost her short-term rental mere days after moving to the city. And heck, I may own my own place but I know as well as anybody that the cost of living in this city isn’t exactly free. I can’t be a pushy dick about where she’ll live or go while she’s sorting out her life. She’s here for now, and that has to be good enough for me.
“They’re lucky to have you,” I say. “If you were my librarian growing up, maybe I’d have liked books more.”
She shoots me a challenging look. “So, let’s play this out. A young Wesley Bryant comes to my library and crushes on librarian me? That’s not weird at all.”
“Hey now. This is a college fantasy. In it, I’m eighteen, it’s my freshman year, and I find you in the stacks at school. Your hair’s up in a bun. You’re wearing a black skirt, a tight white blouse, and black heels. You’re shelving a book. But you can’t reach the tallest shelf, even though you’re stretching, and your skirt’s riding up.”
She leans back in the booth, crossing her arms and staring at me pointedly, her eyes dancing. “Tell me you watch librarian porn without telling me you watch librarian porn.”
“Don’t need to watch it,” I say, then tap my skull. “My brain makes it right here free of charge. Has for the last month and a half.”
She dips her face, hiding a smile at the clear compliment before she says, “Then what happens next in your librarian fantasy?”
I lean closer, parking my elbows on the Formica, locking eyes with her as I drop my voice to an even raspier tone. “I slide the book in for you. You lick your lips as you watch it go right in. It fits perfectly. You thank me, then I ask if you can help me find a good one…to open up.”